Confidence – either you have it or you don’t.
Clearly, Arizona has it. You don’t go from No. 13 in the preseason polls to No 1 in a month if you don’t. Such is the case for the Wildcats through 10 games. And not because of Tuesday night’s 96-62 win over visiting Abeline Christian but because you can see it.
“Hopefully, we’re starting to establish who we want to be and what we can be,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I really challenged our guys, before the game, to kind of hone in on our on-court values and our on-court identity. I think it’s important to kind of refocus on those things, they can kind of be a beacon for how we want to play and understand what’s important to us, as opposed to thinking maybe this can be a certain game where I can play well and or I’m going to get a highlight. We want to think like that. We want to honor our values and honor our identity, and that’s what we focus on.”
Confidence is key.
Figure the leader of the confidence bunch: Brayden Burries, who started slow but has found his groove … and his confidence.
“His first couple games we played UConn and those other games,” teammate Jaden Bradley said. ‘Other freshmen were able to get their feet wet with some easy games and he was thrown in the fire right away. I knew he was going to get better.”
He never had a doubt. To Arizona’s credit, it survived without the shot-making ability of Burries, who was still finding his way, finding his rhythm. For the second consecutive game he led the Wildcats on offensive, scoring 20 points on an efficient 9 of 11 from the floor. It was a game after scoring a career-high 28 points against Alabama. It’s been about four games since he started to turn the corner.
“I feel like I’m starting to get more comfortable, just learning after the vets like JB (Jaden Bradley) and Delly (Anthony Del’ Orso) and the coaches believing in me,” Burries said. “It’s just confidence, I’m starting to get it.”
Where is that confidence coming from, after all he was a bigtime recruit coming in?
“It comes from teammates just trusting me, putting extra work outside of practice,” he said. And just now that if I miss a few shots, I know they’re (not) going to live and die with the shots I shoot.”
Bradley said Burries is “being the elite guard that he is. He’s a great player. And everyone coming out of high school knew that.”
Especially, Lloyd.
“Brayden obviously is a good player, and I’ll let his performance do the speaking,” Lloyd said. “I was never worried. Maybe some people were, I don’t know if they were or not, but I know how good a player he is. I trust my judgment. He’s playing how he’s capable of, and I think he can consistently play at this level for an extended period of time.”
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